04/09/2023
Part 1/2
It is with heavy hearts we announce the passing of John Karabelas, the founder and owner of Cotton Caper for 39 years.
My dad was a great man. Smart, funny, kind —unforgettable. He was a big guy with a big personality to match. Everyone who met him loved him.
My dad was the man behind the business — he was Mr. Cotton Caper. He picked out cds every morning for the 6-disc changer we kept in the back of the store. He always put on Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra for his mom, my Grandma Ruth, whenever she worked. When we ran a sale, he made signs out of big pieces of poster board and red paint to hang in the window. They looked like the work of a third grader, and whether it was 10, 20, or 50% off, he always painted a smiley face inside of the 0. The hand-written, yellow carbon copy receipts. Prices that always ended in 50 cents that I’d often argue were too low. The antique (and very heavy) metal cash register that moved with us via hand truck from store to store. My dad always insisted Cotton Caper was a *store*, not a shop; to him a shop was an overpriced boutique, which he prided us for never becoming. The home of humble prices, that was his motto.
Through the years, he opened stores from Jamesport (which was the very first one, on Main Road called Fashion Farm) to Greenport, Sag Harbor, Hampton bays, East & Center Moriches. At 73 years old, he was still doing the majority of the buying and kept contact and close relationships with our wholesalers. It was always funny sharing with people that my dad, a 6-foot, bearded old guy was the owner; but he was a hard worker, a go-getter, and (surprisingly and hilariously) had an awesome eye for fashion. He was truly great at the job. Besides his family, the store was his life and he loved it.
